The ups and downs of anxiety

I’m not sure if anyone else feels the same way but one of the things I find the hardest to deal with as an anxiety sufferer is the constant ups and downs of how I feel. For almost a week I felt great, I had the odd anxious moment but felt I could cope with almost everything and felt strong. At times like this I get a glimmer of hope that I am getting better and there is light at the end of the tunnel. Then without warning I am suddenly back to feeling anxious and unwell. There was no major event or stressful situation that lead to this relapse, I just suddenly didn’t feel right again!!!!

This has been a constant feature of my anxiety, and I hate it as it makes me scared to make any plans as I don’t know how I will feel from one day to the next. I love the fact I do have some good times, and I know some people are not that lucky, but I find it so hard when the good time ends and the anxiety returns, it almost feels like I have failed, that I am not strong enough and I have let myself down by letting myself feel like this again.

My doctor explained to me once that my mind can find an event or situation stressful without me even realising it and that is why anxiety can seem to come on from nowhere. Something I can logically realise is no threat my body and mind can react to making me feel anxious. This is hard to deal with as it makes it harder to spot your anxiety triggers and work to stop them.

I went to group counselling once and they were explaining ways to change your mindset to stop your anxiety in certain situations, which is great, but they couldn’t really tell me what to do when your anxiety can come out of nowhere. When you can literally be sat on the sofa at home relaxed and chilled and suddenly you feel horrendous and have no idea why.

I’m sure there are other people that feel this way and that is why I wanted to write this post. Today is not a great day for me, but hopefully if other people can read this post and realise that they are not alone and others feel the same way it might help a bit, and that makes me feel a little bit better.